Sunday, November 11, 2012

In accordance with its responsibility
to set policy for the Vernon Parish Library, the Library Board of Control has
adopted on this 31st day of October, 2012 the following policy for the purpose
of:

Compliance
with the statutory mandates set forth in La. R.S. 14:91.2

Protecting
children from contact with persons who have been convicted of sex offenses
where the victim was under 13 years of age.

Regulation:

I.Effective January 1, 2013,
persons who have been convicted of sex offenses where the victim was under the
age of 13 (referred to as “sex offenders” for purposes of this
policy/regulation) are restricted as follows:

A.Sex
Offenders are allowed to use the main branch (Leesville) library of the Vernon Parish
Library. At these libraries, their access is restricted as follows:

1. Children’s
Areas – No sex offender shall be physically present in any area of the library
designated as a “children’s area” or “young readers’ area”.

2. Peak
Children’s Hours – No sex offender shall be physically present on public
library property during published Children’s programing.

3.A
schedule will be posted on-line and at the entrance (bulletin board in lobby)
of the library facility.

B.Libraries
On/Within School Property, public parks and recreation facilities, day care
centers– According to R.S. 14:91.2C, sex offenders
are not allowed on or within 1,000 feet of school property without the
permission of school authorities or recreation facilities without the
permission of recreation authorities. The following libraries are on or
within 1,000 feet of school property or recreational facility/public park:

1.Dunbar
Branch Library

1003 N. Gladys Street

Leesville, LA 71446

2.Pitkin
Branch Library

7277 Hwy. 463

Pitkin,
La. 70656

Sex offenders will only be allowed access to these libraries
if they first obtain permission to be on school property. If they obtain
this permission, the same restrictions as in section A of the policy apply.

Alternative channels of access to public library
resources include:

1.Access
to the other branches as outlined above, and

2.Allowing
a surrogate to check out library materials from these branches on the sex
offender’s library card.

D.Employment
- No sex offender shall apply for, work for, or otherwise provide services to a
library facility as an employee, contractor, sub-contractor, or volunteer.

II.Exceptions to these restrictions
are:

A.Police
station/courthouse/polling station – There shall be no violation of this
regulation if the sex offender is reporting to a police station, courthouse, or
polling station that is within the restricted area.

B.With
special permission – There shall be no violation of this regulation if the sex
offender has requested and has been granted written permission to be physically
present on public library property from the Library Director or his designee,
and the sex offender complies with any special restrictions contained within
said written permission. Said written permission must be presented to library
representative on duty at time of entering library building.

III.The Library Director shall be
responsible for developing and implementing administrative and management
procedures in furtherance of the policies stated herein.

A.Configuration
– To the extent possible, each library branch shall be arranged in a manner to
ensure that areas devoted to children and young readers may be easily
supervised by library staff, and such areas are segregated from other library
resources and facilities.

B.Notice
– Implement procedures to ensure adequate public notice of each library
branch’s times and dates of peak children’s hours and children’s programming.
Adequate notice may include posting such information in a prominent location
near the library’s entrance and on the library’s website.

C.Surrogate
– Implement procedures to allow sex offenders to authorize a surrogate to check
out library materials using the sex offender’s library card. Procedures to
obtain a library card via a surrogate may be granted by the Library Director.

IV.The Library Director and members of the public are invited to make
recommendations to the Library Board to improve this regulation or suggest state
legislative changes that will allow public libraries to more effectively
achieve the public purposes set forth herein. Those recommendations, along with
any supporting documentation, should be submitted annually to the Library Board
by or before Oct. 1 of said year. Such correspondence shall be sent:Attention: Library Director.

Authority Note

Act 693 of the 2012 Regular Session of the Louisiana
Legislature amended and re-enacted R.S. 14.91.2. The effective date of the Act
is January 1, 2013.

Vernon Parish residents
now have access to three electronic resources made available through the State
Library of Louisiana and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The Vernon
Parish Library announces that Mango Languages, McGraw-Hill AccessScience and TumbleBooks
are now available to its patrons.

The State Library of Louisiana has added these services to
the Louisiana Library Connection suite of statewide electronic resources.

Mango Languages offers more than 40
foreign languages to explore and more than 15 ESL courses taught in the patron’s
native language. Patrons can learn anytime from home using free mobile apps or
a computer and their library card.

Through TumbleBooks, Vernon Parish patrons have unlimited
access to fiction and non-fiction e-books, read-along picture books, graphic
novels, National Geographic videos and educational games. Books in French and
Spanish, graphic novels and audio books are also available.

AccessScience is a web-based, fully searchable encyclopedia
of science and technology that includes the full text and illustrations of the
latest content of the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. Patrons
can also access more than 7,100 articles, 115,000 dictionary terms and 1,300 research
updates in all areas of science and technology.

The
State Library of Louisiana provides services to all residents through their
local public libraries and uses state and federal funds to provide statewide
electronic resources.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary
source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500
museums. Their grants, policy development and research help communities and
individuals thrive by providing broad public access to knowledge, cultural
heritage and lifelong learning.

These
are but a few of the many online databases and other online resources available
to the citizens of Vernon Parish through the Vernon Parish Library. Some of
these are OverDrive audiobooks, Lexis Nexis legal database, Homework Helper,
Jobs, Government Documents and much more.

To
find out more, please call the Library at 337-239-2027 or 800-737-2231.